Brilliant recreation of “Chaplin’s Lights” inspired by his 1931 film “City Lights”: The Komisar Scoop

By Lucy Komisar

Inspired by Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931), this brilliantly scripted and performed mime play takes iconic moments from the film and adds scenes that Chaplin would have approved of. Brilliantly directed by Alwina Najem-Meyer, the cast is all excellent, particularly Chaplin’s vagabond, superbly created by Russian performer Dmitiri Rekatchevsky, who trained under the master Marcel Marceau in Paris.

Chaplin was the world’s most accomplished mime and recreating his famous silent show is a tribute to his art.

The sets and costumes (1920s style) are in black, white and gray, as they might have appeared in the film. A keyboard player introduces the music as it was played in silent films.

The elements seem disparate at first, but they will all make sense and create a clear storyline.

A tramp is lying on a bench, hat and cane on a post. He is interrupted by a fight. He comes across a policeman (Julien Jansen). A lady arrives, he thinks she desires him, but she comes for someone else. His love will turn out to be a young blind woman (a charming Najem-Meyer) who arrives with a basket of white carnations.

His enemy will be the intelligent caricature of a lady (Lauren Launay), cigarette in mouth, whose gait says “tough”. She runs a café.

In moments of burlesque, a rich guy in a top hat (alternating between Raphaël Guérin and Olivier Laurent) twists and falls against a lamppost, and a robber (Launay) shoots the cop who is saved by his metal badge.

The cafe owner hires the bum as a waiter, and he falls over when the chairs are pulled out. The Cafe Lady and the Jitterbug Cop.

The vagabond wears the bridesmaid’s carnation in his buttonhole. Suddenly he sees a newspaper headline: “Doctor Has Found a Cure for Blindness.” He goes to collect a lot of money and gives it to the lady. Some time later he discovers that she runs a flower shop. And he is offended. She gives him a red rose.

The artwork is exceptional. My favorite part was the choreographed fight between the tramp and a muscular boxer (Jansen). Watch it on Youtube.

There are only five actors in the production, but the multiplicity of roles they play gives the impression that there are more. Gabriel Ortega alternates with Clément Darlu on the keyboard. The signs, worthy of Chaplin’s “titles”, are all in English. This troupe and this play deserve to be widely distributed outside France.

“Lights on Chaplin.” Directed by Alwina Najem-Meyer. Wahnsinn Company. Chapelle des Italiens, 33 rue Paul Saïn, 84000 Avignon. tel. 33 9 5242 6672. Duration 1h10. From June 29 to July 21, 2024. OFF Avignon Festival.